Talk Wisdom's goal is to defend the tenets and values of Biblical Christian faith. We defend our Constitutional Republic and Charters of Freedom, especially when speaking out against destructive social and political issues. As followers of our Savior and Lord, we should boldly stand up for Jesus Christ in our present circumstances. He is our Savior, Lord, and King, and His love needs to be shed abroad in our hearts and in our world – now.

Archive for the ‘religious freedom’ Category

I’m reminded of that old metaphorical statement “praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.” We have to do both—pray and act. We have to pray like crazy for God to intervene in this country and break us. Incidentally, I also think if we’re going to see a spiritual change in this country, I believe it will happen through our young people.

I was with a bunch of young people yesterday and I was reminding them that all of the Great Awakenings, including the beginning of the modern mission movement, started among young people. One girl said, “I told God the answer is ‘yes.’ I don’t even know what the questions are, but whatever You want me to do, the answer is ‘yes.’” So I believe we need to pray with all of our hearts that God will do a work in our churches and especially in our youth. And while we’re all doing that, we don’t want to sit on our hands and not do the other things that we can do, such as vote, and try to have an informed vote based upon the issues that we know will really matter. So we have to praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.

– Dr. David Jeremiah in BGEA Decision Magazine’s 2016 Electoral Guide

Readers may recall that in my former post entitled, Stuck In The Middle With You I had encouraged voters to order the free Decision magazine issue that presents 2016 Election information when considering our choice this November regarding, “Two Visions, Two Americas.”

If you didn’t order the magazine yet, the good news is that the Electoral guide with complete articles are now online!

This morning, I finally finished reading all of the articles. They are very informative and I think they will help readers make the best decisions regarding this upcoming election.

I suggest reading all of the articles at Billy Graham’s website. Each reader can decide which article to read first. I chose to read The Party Platforms and then the Where The Candidates Stand report. As I saw the striking differences between the Democratic vs. Republican platforms, I thought to myself that as a Christian first, wife, mother and grandmother second, Conservative third, and registered Republican last, that if I were in a swing state I would vote for Donald Trump for President. Why? Because it would be a vote against crooked HiLIARy!

The stark differences between these two candidates (especially the egregious corruption in the Democrat party that has been revealed by Wikileaks each day) makes me a Never Hillaryvoter. The criminal activity that she has been involved in (especially Benghazi), the mountain of lies she has piled up over the years, the legitimate concern about her obviously failing health (and the huge cover-up about this), and the media- of-mass-deception that is doing all that they can to avoid reporting her crimes (while so obviously backing her campaign), places an absolute conclusion in my mind that she should NEVER become president!

Being in the state of California in which the electoral college hasn’t given a victory to a Republican since Ronald Reagan in the ’80s tells me that even if I were to vote for Trump here, technically it wouldn’t really count anyway. However, would I be neglecting my Christian duty to leave my ballot choice for president blank?

Dr. David Jeremiah’s question and answer portion in the magazine was very informative; as were so many of the other articles so please take the time to read it all. I especially took to heart these portions:

Q: How should a Christian voter prioritize the issues?

A:One of the most important questions going forward is, will our people be able to live their lives and worship God in freedom, or will the Supreme Court and its decisions continue to squeeze evangelicals, so that we are forced to violate the law or violate our conscience toward God? I think that’s the biggest issue—whether we can live and worship the Lord and live according to the dictates of our conscience, or get forced into a corner of political correctness and have to make a decision of whether to go to jail or follow our faith.

Q: Living in California as you do, you’ve seen firsthand a lot of the social progressivism before the rest of the country has experienced it. What do you foresee for Gospel-minded Christians in the next four to eight years?

A: There’s both good and bad. The church has always flourished when it was under pressure. Prosperity has never been good for the church. Adversity has consistently been good for the church. The New Testament was written in a time when Rome was running rampant over Christianity and you knew who the real Christians were. They stood up and were counted. I think one of two things is going to happen: Either we’re going to see a revival of some sort, and with that a renewal of the principles upon which this country was built, or we’re going to fall into a time of great pressure on Christians.

I think this current election may have a great deal to do with which direction that goes. And I believe that apart from a spiritual renewal, a Great Awakening like the ones we’ve had in the past—during which we would return to our roots spiritually—what we’re going to face is more and more the church under the pressure of the government, more and more being pressured to conduct weddings that we will never conduct, more and more being told to say things that we can’t say.

I don’t think that means we should be discouraged as believers. The Gospel has never been more necessary than it is now. All of these things that we talk about don’t in any way impact the fact that Jesus Christ is still the answer and that salvation is still the main business of the church.

That excerpt is sobering, but now that I have delved into the entire chapter, the evil and depravity that is going on in the world today is so very discouraging, damaging and frightening!

I truly am saddened that the country that I grew up in from the mid-nineteen fifties through graduating college in 1977 has disappeared and been replaced with the “normalization” of the most egregious sinful secular-leftist and atheistic (even devil-worshipping!) kinds of immorality and death-cult beliefs that it is absolutely astonishing!

There was a time when Christian parents could shield their children from all of this, but no more. The so-called “smartphones” that adults and children hold in their hands today are just a click away from pornography websites.

Excerpt from Chapter One:

Depravity in Our Minds

In January 2016, the Internet’s largest online pornography site released its annual statistics. On just this one website in just one year – 2015 – consumers watched 4,392,486,580 hours of pornography. Convert those hours into years, and it means those people collectively spent more than 500,000 years watching porn.

On this particular site in 2015 alone, people watched 87,849,731, 608 X-rated videos. Over 87 billion! That’s twelve videos for every man, woman, boy and girl on the planet.

The rate at which sexual depravity is being “normalized” is causing havoc upon many freedoms that Christians have enjoyed in the past. Now, deeply held religious beliefs, freedom of speech, freedom to practice our faith in the public domain, freedom of association to reject the immoral cesspool around us, and most of all, the freedom to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ is actively being punished by “the powers that be” in government! This scenario is especially egregious in the liberal courts dominated by anti-Christian “judges” who decide to allow sexual immoralities described in God’s Word to trump the First Amendment rights of Christian believers.

I could go on and on…but most readers get the picture.

The saving grace in all of this is the fact that Christians know Who wins and triumphs at the end of days. There will come a time when God’s mercy and grace will run out and the judgments will fall upon those who rejected God’s provision for salvation – the Cross of Jesus Christ!

This is probably the biggest reason why this blog exists. To warn people about the schemes of Satan that are there to grab our minds, entice our flesh, and spiral us down into the cesspool of depravity through active sin; in order to keep our minds, hearts, bodies, souls and spirits away from God.

God the Father, who loves us so deeply that He sent His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place and free us once and for all from the penalty that we all deserve for our rebellion and sin; gives us the kind of hope that can never be achieved on our own.

What will YOU do (and decide about God’s provision through Jesus Christ) on this side of eternity?

Dr. Jeremiah masterfully shares the truth that for many people, their source of hope is sadly misplaced. He states that “the question you must address is not whether America and the world will regain their footing, but how you will respond whether they do or not.”

“That is what this book is all about!”

Dr. Jeremiah explains the four common responses to the growing fears about the future. Three are wrong, and one is right.

Wrong:

Denial – Living in the illusion that nothing will change, refusing to heed the clouds gathering on the horizon.

Despair – Collapse is inevitable, all is hopeless, nothing can be done and we are doomed.

“Eat, drink, and be merry.” As Solomon (see Ecclesiastes 8:15) warned us, all the pleasure we can get because there is “nothing new under the sun” is not productive. It doesn’t give us hope. In fact, it is “all vanity and grasping after the wind.” (see Ecclesiastes 1:14).

Ecc 1:14

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

Right:

The one right response is to look beyond the gathering storm to the one solid and certain source of hope–to God Himself. Hope in the future of America and the stability of the world is little more than wishful thinking. It is not reliable. The hope God offers is the only realistic, absolute hope that carries the promise of a certain outcome.

The next three paragraphs in the Introduction are very powerful!

We do not know whether America will soon fall. We do not know when the Lord will return. But we do know that whatever our circumstances, God’s desire for us is to live without anxiety and with hope. He offers you “thoughts of peace and not of evil.” and He wants “to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

In this book I will show you how to find that hope. It is a hope that is not dependent on whether America falls or recovers or whether world order stabilizes or disintegrates. It is a hope that rises above trouble and chaos, enabling you to keep your focus on your future reward and endure whatever comes, whether good or evil, with grace and equanimity.

The added benefit of this hope is that those who exercise it before others set an example that may just make a difference in the outcome. Enough Christians exhibiting faith in God just might be the salt that saves America.

I watched the first movie, “God’s Not Dead” again last evening. I thought it was a good film even though many non-Christian reviews were negative. [See Wikipedia and scroll down to “critical reception” for examples.]

It was interesting to me to read Wikipedia’s opinion about the visit and verbal exchange of a son (Mark) in the movie (who previously refused to visit his mom who suffers from dementia) versus what is written over at Plugged In.

Wikipedia:

Mark at last visits his mother, only to taunt her; she responds that all of his financial success was given to him by Satan to keep him from turning to God.

Plugged In:

Mina’s dementia-afflicted mother serves to stimulate thought about how serving God doesn’t always iron out all of life’s wrinkles.

“You prayed and believed your whole life,” Mina’s brother says to their mother, almost as an accusation. “Never done anything wrong. And here you are. You’re the nicest person I know. I am the meanest. You have dementia. My life is perfect. Explain that to me!” Then, in a moment of unexpected spiritual clarity, she does. “Sometimes the devil allows people to live a life free of trouble because he doesn’t want them turning to God,” she tells her shocked son. “Their sin is like a jail cell, except it is all nice and comfy and there doesn’t seem to be any reason to leave. The door’s wide open. Till one day, time runs out, and the cell door slams shut, and suddenly it’s too late.”

Indeed, in the face of difficulty, we hear a lot about God always being good, and having a plan for our lives.

It is interesting to note that after saying such a coherent message, the mom goes back to her dementia-induced state, turns towards her son and asks, “who did you say that you were?”

In contrast to the accusation-filled son Mark, whenever the daughter (a Christian named Mina) visited her mom, she patiently told her (as often as necessary) that she is her daughter.

At the end of the film, Mark (of the mom with dementia) acts as arrogantly and detached as ever from what his mother warned him about being in the state of “their [his] sin is like a jail cell.”

The man obviously rejected the warning, but the Bible tells each of us that “your sin will find you out.”

Num 32:23

“But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out.

In Matthew 4 (just after Jesus was tempted by satan for 40 days and nights in the wilderness) we find:

Mat 4:12

Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.

Mat 4:13

And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali,

Mat 4:14

that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

Mat 4:15

“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles:

Mat 4:16

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned.”[fn]

Mat 4:17

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Since satan had the gall to tempt Jesus, the Son of God, he certainly will tempt any and all of us! However, as we see in the case of Mark in the movie, living a life of ease (yet separated from God for all eternity) still fulfills satan’s goal of taking unrepentant souls to hell with him.

Plugged In’s review is more in line with what Jesus tells us in Scripture.

Jhn 16:33

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will[fn] have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Speaking of experiencing tribulation in this world, God’s Not Dead 2 came out in April, 2016. I haven’t seen it yet but a blog I ran across describes a real life example of a situation that is depicted in the film.

What is God’s purpose to allow us to go through tribulation (in whatever form it may arise) in this fallen world?

I think this paragraph explains it:

News of our legal case reached people all over the world, and some of them contacted me to encourage me and show their support. It’s amazing how God took a simple decision to remain obedient in my freshman year and turned it into a tool that reached the ears of thousands with the name of Jesus.

Remaining obedient often pits Christian believers against the secular worldviews that would have us shut up, sit down, and accept the immoral deluge that is afflicting our free speech, freedom of association, freedom of conscience, freedom of outwardly professing our faith, and freedom FROM having immorality forced upon our families.

I applaud individuals like Chase Windebank, who didn’t know what the ultimate outcome would be, yet pressed on about what he knew God would have wanted him to do. Stand up for his faith in Jesus Christ!

Chase concludes his post:

It took nearly eight months for my case to come to a close. The outcome? A victory on the side of free speech! Now, if any other public school student is refused the right to pray during their free time at school, they can use my case as an example to aid in their own victory.

God was faithful to sustain me, and all of those rich memories came flooding back as I watched GOD’S NOT DEAD 2. Even though I am now far removed from it all, it felt so real and present. There were times I literally stood up and jumped in excitement for the case being made on behalf of Ms. Wesley.

The thought and scholarly guidance that this movie undertook in order to depict the truth of what our nation is dealing with was phenomenal. Remember with me, for this is the foundation upon which our nation was built. Remember it well by going to see this film. Be Blessed!

Chase Windebank is a Colorado native who loves hiking through the Rocky Mountains, teaching Taekwondo, and writing. His goal in life is to stir up passion in his generation for the things of God, and to show people the true treasure of the Gospel in his everyday life.

For years the former Marine combat veteran would walk alone to the 50-yard line and offer a prayer of thanksgiving and blessing after football games. He drew inspiration for his post-game prayers from “Facing the Giants”, a popular faith-based film. Over the years, players and coaches from both teams would join him — on their own volition.

On Sept. 27th [Superintendent Aaron] Leavell fired off a letter to the coach warning him to cease and desist.

“Your talks with students may not include religious expression, including prayer,” he wrote. “They must remain entirely secular in nature, so as to avoid alienation of any team member.”

In his most recent letter, Leveall said the school district would be glad to provide a place for Coach Joe to pray — so long as it was in private — “not observable to students or the public.”

“For example, a private location within the school building, athletic facility or press box could be made available to you for brief religious exercise before and after games,” Superintendent Leavell wrote.

To be clear, Coach Joe is forbidden from bowing his head, taking a knee or doing anything that might remotely be construed as religious.

“While on duty for the District as an assistant coach, you may not engage in demonstrative religious activity, readily observable to (of not intended to be observed by) students and the attending public,” the superintendent added.

That means he’s not even allowed to bow his head behind the bleachers where the kids are smoking pot.

Liberty Institute, the nation’s largest law firm specializing in religious liberty cases, is preparing to initiate legal proceedings against the school district — accusing them of religious discrimination.

Superintendent Leavell stressed in his letter that the district does not prohibit prayer or other religious exercises by its employees.

“However, it must prohibit any conduct by employees that would serve as District endorsement of religion,” he said.

Sasser said the district’s argument is outrageous.

“What they are saying is he cannot pray by himself, he cannot simply take a knee at the 50-yard-line,” Sasser said. “That’s like telling a coach he can’t wear a yarmulke if he’s Jewish, he can’t wear a turban if he’s a Sikh, he can’t pray to Mecca if he’s a Muslim, he can’t wear a cross necklace if he’s a Christian.”

Late last week State Superintendent Randy Dorn released a statement backing the school district.

“It’s unfortunate when the actions of one employee affect an entire district,” Dorn said.

As if a football coach who prays for his team is doing engaged in some sort of criminal enterprise.

Dorn went on to suggest that teachers like Coach Joe are not good role models.

“School staff exercising their right to silently pray in private on their own is fine. But leading a prayer isn’t,” he said. “School officials are role models; leading a prayer might put a student in an awkward position, even if the prayer is voluntary. For students who don’t share the official’s faith, players, the official’s public expression of faith can seem exclusionary or even distressing.”

For the record, Coach Joe never invited anyone to pray with him — especially students. They chose to participate by their own free will.

Sasser said the state superintendent does have a point – there are people in the state of Washington who feel disenfranchised — Christians.

“When they find out a coach can’t even silently pray at the 50-yard-line, there’s no greater message of hostility than that,” Sasser told me. “This is not a school being neutral. This is a school being hostile to religion – and we are going to hold them accountable.”

Provided Coach Joe still has a job on Friday night, he plans to do what he’s done after every other football game.

“I’m going to keep on praying,” he said.

Good for this coach! He is willing to STAND UP for his First Amendment rights which includes freedom of religion, freedom of association, and freedom of speech!

It’s “funny” [see above definitions] how individuals like Aaron Leavell, who is obviously an advocate for secularism, deems voluntary prayer by a coach, his team, and teammates from the opponents (no less!) as “exclusionary” and/or “distressing.” Whether or not Aaron Leavell believes in prayer, it sure seems as though he thinks that prayer is powerful enough to cause the angst of non-believers like him, and thus make a demand for its exclusion!

Sep. 23, 2015 – 3:57 – Clerk at the center of a religious freedom conflict on how she made a difference on ‘The Kelly File’

The main point here is that those who are faithful followers of Jesus Christ, adhere to God’s Word, and desire accommodations when their faith, job, livelihood, and religious freedoms are being threatened; often do not get such accommodations.

“I never imagined a day like this would come, where I would be asked to violate a central teaching of Scripture and of Jesus Himself regarding marriage. To issue a marriage license which conflicts with God’s definition of marriage, with my name affixed to the certificate, would violate my conscience. It is not a light issue for me. It is a Heaven or Hell decision. For me it is a decision of obedience. I have no animosity toward anyone and harbor no ill will. To me this has never been a gay or lesbian issue. It is about marriage and God’s Word.”

The first reason is to confront a legal fallacy. It is commonly believed that the opinions of the Supreme Court are the “law of the land.” This mantra is constantly trumpeted by the media, the pundits, the commentators and the administration of President Obama. Nine unelected, though elevated, justices do not “make the law of the land” in our system of government. The law of the land—the Constitution—is supreme in the United States, not the Supreme Court. And the Constitution can only be changed by the people through elected legislators at the local, state and federal levels, not the judiciary at any level. Governors and Presidents execute the law established through elected legislators. The Supreme Court renders “opinions” on cases it hears, but it does not create law. If this delegation of duties is not observed then the warnings of Thomas Jefferson concerning the inevitable tyranny of the judicial branch will be a reality, as even James Madison, the architect of the Constitution, eventually admitted could happen!

In a word, SCOTUS is an arbiter of the law. To make this clearer, they are umpires. Umpires do not make the rules, they make ruling judgments, which may or may not be right. So it is with SCOTUS. And like any other umpire, they can, and have been wrong. Sometimes with catastrophic effects these nine justices have historically made rulings and issued opinions which were politically shaped, but legally and Constitutionally devastatingly wrong. Thankfully in some cases they were rightly challenged by citizens and elected officials in the history of our country. For brevity’s sake, here are just two politically and culturally shaped, but Constitutionally and devastatingly wrong opinions.

Dred Scott – (Oct. 1857) a slave was less than a person without unalienable rights.

Roe v. Wade – (Jan. 1973) Legalized homicide of a baby in the womb for any reason at any time.

Mrs. Davis is right to challenge the Obergefell wrong ruling/opinion as others challenged such legal fabrications in the past. Many in the North and South as citizens and government officials challenged the Dred Scott opinion. If more had done so, there is a good possibility that 700,000 lives in a fratricidal Civil War might have been avoided, and racial hostilities still plaguing this nation might have been rightly addressed. Although Roe v. Wade eventually has been challenged with legislative, ministerial and civil disobedience initiatives, the fact is 57 million plus annihilated lives might have been saved, if citizens, including elected officials had challenged the Roe. V. Wade ruling/opinion from the outset.

Kim Davis is right not to sign and affirm a so-called law affirming “same-sex marriage” with the devastations, sexual anarchy and relational carnage it will bring. Furthermore, she should be commended for not resigning to go quietly away which many would desire. Then admirably she is willing to suffer the persecution of judicial tyranny, thereby forcing a nation to address the Constitutionality of this issue and professing Christians to address it personally. The First Amendment protecting the free exercise of religion (not just the subset of worship), is not forfeited when you become an elected official. As an elected official, she took an oath to uphold the Constitutions of Kentucky and the United States. The Constitution of the United States does not determine marriage laws. Marriage laws are established by the states and the Constitution of Kentucky is clear and unchanged—marriage is between one man and woman.

Looks like the judge in this wrongful incarceration of Davis finally “blinked” on this one. Perhaps he feared tremendous backlash for his stupidity.

When he sought to punish Davis, he must have had delusions of grandeur; thinking that he’s like the king of England who badgered and suppressed the religious rights of the people in his own country, and then when they left to find religious freedom in the colonies, the oppression by the king didn’t stop. Therefore, the Revolutionary War was fought for the freedoms they were being denied.

Incarcerating this woman was a travesty of justice, and that judge knows it. The upcoming rally on Saturday would have continued to show the judge’s error(s) on this issue, so he “decreed” her release.

At the time that our nation was born, after a long, hard-fought and bloody war against the tyrants from England who sent soldiers over to America to kill the colonists into compliance; Benjamin Franklin was asked by a woman, “what kind of government have you given us, sir?” He replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

Our beloved Republic has been on the road to destruction for some time now by the programmed regressives who think their awful policies will lead to some kind of utopia. Their conscientious stupidity, foolish wisdom of the world, anti-God and anti-Christ mindsets, unrepentant hearts, evil intentions, and satanic policies all reveal that they think they know better than God and His Word, the Bible.

One day, they will stand before God at the Great White Throne Judgment and realize how wrong they were. But at that point, it will be too late for them to be redeemed.

How prophetic Franklin was in his answer to that woman during the birth of our nation!

There is still time to turn the tide away from the deceiving spirits of sincere ignorance, sin, evil, death and destruction. I pray that God will continue to see fit to hold us in His loving care during such a time as this.

Did you read that graphic? The Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Where did the Extreme Court get the right to claim that same-sex “marriage” can be made a law by 5 unelected lawyers?

OK. Maybe you have come to this blog thinking that allowing a made-up-out-of-thin-air “right” to same-sex “marriage” could not possibly hurt anyone? Well, think again! Regardless of the way that it was improperly and lawlessly imposed upon all 50 states (remember that at least 35 states had constituents who VOTED to ban same-sex “marriage” – which were all whisked away by the whims of 5 pro-homosexual activists on the Extreme Court) this disastrous decision has placed those who love God, His written Word the Bible, and His Living Word Jesus Christ all in the crosshairs of being destroyed by the radical homosexual agenda!

Don’t believe that this is true and a FACT? Read all the blog posts where I shared what destroying the true definition of marriage would lead to!

Well, we are now seeing the harmful ramifications of that awful, defiant, unlawful, and unconstitutional Extreme Court decision by five unelected lawyers back in June. It has not only led to Christian bakers, florists, marriage venue owners, etc. being taken to court and fined; but now a pro-homosexual judge decided to throw a Kentucky clerk into jail because she had the nerve to stand up for God and her deeply held Christian beliefs in regards to not issuing same-sex marriage licenses because doing so would go against her religious convictions.

There are many articles out there, but the following one is one of the best that I have read in a long time! I have included the article (below) in its entirety.

‘Where is the call for President Obama to resign for ignoring and defying our immigration laws’

GOP president hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz, on Thursday accused U.S. District Judge David Bunning of “judicial tyranny” for jailing a Kentucky county clerk who refused to violate her Christian faith and issue licenses to same-sex couples.

He said those who are calling for her removal from office – she can’t be fired, she can only be impeached if she chooses not to quit – are hypocrites.

“Where is the call for President Obama to resign for ignoring and defying our immigration laws, our welfare reform laws, and even his own Obamacare?” Cruz said. “When the mayor of San Francisco and President Obama resign, then we can talk about Kim Davis.

“Those who are persecuting Kim Davis believe that Christians should not serve in public office. That is the consequence of their position. Or, if Christians do serve in public office, they must disregard their religious faith – or be sent to jail,” he continued. “Kim Davis should not be in jail. We are a country founded on Judeo-Christian values, founded by those fleeing religious oppression and seeking a land where we could worship God and live according to our faith, without being imprisoned for doing so.

“I call upon every believer, every constitutionalist, every lover of liberty to stand with Kim Davis. Stop the persecution now.”

Bunning summoned Rowan County clerk Kim Davis to his courtroom on Thursday after she defied his order to violate her faith and issue licenses to same-sex couples.

Bunning, who previously has ruled in favor of partial-birth abortion and homosexual clubs for high schoolers, said a fine simply wasn’t enough punishment for her and ordered her to jail until she agrees to issue the licenses.

Then he ordered her assistants to either issue the licenses or join her in jail. Five of the six agreed, several under protest.

Bunning later tried to resolve the case by telling Davis to come back to his courtroom and she could go if she agreed not to interfere with her deputies’ actions, according to reports.

She refused.

Cruz said: “Today, judicial lawlessness crossed into judicial tyranny. Today, for the first time ever, the government arrested a Christian woman for living according to her faith. This is wrong. This is not America.

“I stand with Kim Davis. Unequivocally. I stand with every American that the Obama administration is trying to force to choose between honoring his or her faith or complying with a lawless court decision,” he said. “In dissent, Chief Justice Roberts rightly observed that the court’s marriage decision has nothing to do with the Constitution. Justice Scalia observed that the court’s decision was so contrary to law that state and local officials would choose to defy it.

“For every politician – Democrat and Republican – who is tut-tutting that Davis must resign, they are defending a hypocritical standard. Where is the call for the mayor of San Francisco to resign for creating a sanctuary city – resulting in the murder of American citizens by criminal illegal aliens welcomed by his lawlessness?”

“Get ready for the persecution coming near you – all, of course, in the name of ‘love’ and ‘tolerance,’” he said. “This has only just begun.”

Kengor was not surprised by the jailing. He said a moment like this became inevitable as soon as Anthony Kennedy and four other Supreme Court justices declared “same-sex marriage” a constitutional right in June.

“For the apostles of tolerance and diversity, this is what their ‘tolerance’ and ‘diversity’ actually look like in practice,” Kengor told WND. “It is intolerance. It is coercion. It is pickets, boycotts, fines, penalties, demonization, and, in some cases, incarceration. Welcome to the Left’s new America, where those who disagree with the Left’s ongoing invention of new ‘rights’ are penalized by the state.”

“There will be a price to pay, but it is only as we stand firm that change will come,” Brown told WND. “Kim Davis is paying a very real price now.”

Prior to her court appearance, Davis told Fox News’ Todd Starnes she was prepared to go to jail for her beliefs, saying, “This is a fight worth fighting.”

She actually stopped issuing any marriage licenses after the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision so she would not be discriminating against any group.

“This is why the very first principle in the book is ‘Never Compromise Your Convictions’ and the fourth principle is ‘Refuse to Redefine Marriage,’” Brown said. “This is the great moral, cultural, and spiritual test of our generation. Will we do what is right in God’s sight – which is in the ultimate best interests of our society – or will we cave in and capitulate?”

Kengor warned that progressives will be ruthless on this matter.

“Be prepared for something even more shocking from the Left – the lack of apologies and regrets,” he said. “Liberals will defend and even applaud the sight of this woman being hauled off to jail.”

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee tweeted his support for Davis: “Kim Davis in federal custody removes all doubts about the criminalization of Christianity in this country. We must defend #ReligiousLiberty!” he said.

Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage said the fault rests with the Supreme Court, which created the conflict between the enumerated constitutional right of free religious exercise and the newly created “same-sex marriage” right.

“It is outrageous to jail Kim Davis because she does not want to personally be part of certifying same-sex ‘marriages’ that violate her deeply held religious beliefs about the nature of marriage,” said Brown. “What this judge is saying is that now that the Supreme Court has illegitimately redefined marriage, every single person in government if not in the country must stand in salute and participate in the act. That is profoundly wrong and violates the spirit of federal law which provides that the government must seek ways to reasonably accommodate people’s religious views in the workplace.”

He said: “While Judge Bunning is the instrument of the inhumane punishing of Kim Davis, the authors of it are the five justices of the U.S. Supreme Court who illegitimately, without a shred of constitutional authority, redefined marriage without any regard to the profound implications their ruling would have on law-abiding, faithful Americans. With this ruling, the idea of religious freedom that is at the heart of our constitution has been eliminated when it comes to exercising beliefs about marriage. It’s a profound shredding of the constitution on the altar of gay activism.”

Penny Nance, president of Concerned Women for America, said that Davis’ “predicament is the direct result of the lawlessness promoted by the Supreme Court of the United States itself with its unconstitutional Obergefell decision.”

“It’s flippant, and frankly insulting, treatment of religious liberty and Obergefell is a disgrace to that great institution.”

Raw Story reported the White House expressed no concern for Davis or religious freedom, with spokesman Josh Earnest saying: “There’s a rule of law and the principle of the rule of law is central to our democracy. And it’s appropriate in this instance for a federal judge to determine the best way to enforce the law.”

A legislative leader in Kentucky had asked the judge to delay the case until lawmakers could provide a resolution, but Bunning refused. He also refused, according to Davis’ supporters, to provider her due process.

Tom James of Eastwood Baptist Church told the station: “The Supreme Court didn’t make a law, they just interpreted the one that was already on the books. … The First Amendment guarantees our freedom to practice our faith, and just because she is a public official, I don’t know of any law that says she loses that freedom.”

Another pastor criticized her for not following the ruling in her position as county clerk. However, “same-sex marriage” was not the law when Davis was elected.

I suggest reading the article in its entirety at the link above. However, here are some important excerpts:

Love wins.

Understood rightly, it is gloriously true.

Love won on the cross, when God sent His Son to die for the sins of the world, repaying our evil deeds with the supreme act of sacrificial love.

[Love] will win in the end, as forever and ever, the Father’s family will enjoy His incredible goodness in a world without sin and suffering.

[But] love also warns. In fact, love that does not warn is not love at all.

The parent who doesn’t warn a chain-smoking child about the dangers of nicotine is not a loving parent.

The doctor who doesn’t warn a morbidly obese patient about the dangers of overeating is not a loving doctor.

The preacher who doesn’t warn his straying flock about the dangers of spiritual compromise is not a loving pastor.

Love warns with tears.

Love warns with brokenness.

Love warns with longsuffering.

Love warns.

That’s why Jesus wept in public as He warned Jerusalem about the terrible judgment that was at the door (Luke 19:41-45).

That’s why Jeremiah wept in secret when the nation refused to hear his warnings of impending disaster (Jer. 13:17).

[In] the words of the book of Proverbs, “Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. … He who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward than he who flatters with the tongue” (Prov. 27:5-6; 28:23).

We are not called to tickle people’s ears and make them feel good. We are called to speak the truth in love, to have hearts of compassion and backbones of steel, to emulate the true prophets not the false prophets, to do the right thing rather than the convenient thing.

Oh that God would deliver us from a crippling, compromising, man-pleasing mentality!

[It] is true that love is patient and kind and is not irritable or rude (1 Cor. 13:4-7).

It is true that love does no harm to its neighbor (Rom. 13:10).

And it is true that, rightly understood, love wins.

But love wins because love warns, and if we walk in true love for God and our neighbor, we will warn.

Individuals who are reluctant to commit to any particular worldview often pick and choose what they like about different worldviews. The bad thing about this is that they aren’t really bothered if such ideas contradict each other. The only thing that counts in their own minds is “what works for you.” However, as will be demonstrated in the video below of an encounter between actress Ellen Page (who self-identifies as lesbian) and presidential candidate, Ted Cruz (a Christian), is that “what works for her” is more important; and in her mind obviously trumps, anything and everything that works for Christian believers like Ted.

People like Page have the notion and belief that “any one system cannot possibly contain all truth.” This is a relativistic worldview which enables a person like Page to ignore, dismiss, hate, and even disparage biblical truth in order to keep her own way of thinking intact. Such attitudes and beliefs stem from secular humanism, postmodernism, and even the New Age movement.

The LGBT agenda movement HAS to attack and disparage the truth of the Bible because the Bible explicitly condemns their behavior – calling them to repent of their sin and to be saved by the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross at Calvary. Once a man or woman commits to Jesus as their Lord and Savior, we want to keep the Commandments of God because we love Him. To those who refuse to believe in Christ, it is offensive to think that way.

What is interesting to me is the fact that at the end of the discussion with Cruz, Page absolutely refuses to ADMIT that they agree on one point regarding 0bama’s silence about ISIS Muslims and radical Islamic Shias in Iran and across the Middle East who are executing and throwing homosexuals off buildings because their sexual orientation and behavior has been discovered!

My question for readers who are up to the challenge is why was it necessary for her to do that?

It is difficult to cite just one of the 44 atheists on that list who have written about their conversions to Christianity. However, one stood out to me today so that is the one that I will excerpt below.

Our current aberrant, lie filled, sexually immoral, anti-Christian culture is the result of decades worth of indoctrination in our public schools, secular colleges and universities. The hard-core, rabidly anti-God professors that dominate these institutions are busy brain-dirtying students in the most egregious ways! Prestigious universities have become breeding grounds of anti-God, anti-Bible, and anti-Christian thought. It isn’t enough for them to disagree with the religious freedoms that we are (supposed) to enjoy as a Constitutional Republic, but they are busy doing all that they can to egregiously stomp out such freedoms!

The New Totalitarians label themselves as “liberals,” “progressives,” “leftists,” etc.; and also proclaim their ideology to the world via political activism, leftist propaganda on the news, progressivism in social media, and of course, the most totalitarian-oriented mindset of the anything-goes Hollyweird crowd. The result of such pressure being pushed into the minds of young people in this way is proof that the goal of the new Totalitarians is to wrongly proclaim that the things of the world that are evil as “good,” and the things of God that are good as “evil.”

Isaiah 5:20-24 speaks of this plainly; with sharp words of warning to those who engage is such wickedness:

Isa 5:20

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Isa 5:21

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!

Isa 5:22

Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink,

Isa 5:23

Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away justice from the righteous man!

Isa 5:24

Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, And the flame consumes the chaff, So their root will be as rottenness, And their blossom will ascend like dust; Because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

The young people who have escaped such indoctrination are usually those who have either been educated via home-schooling, Christian schools, or charter schools which do not engage in the social engineering that is being hammered into the minds of students who do not know the written of Word of God – the Bible and do not know the Living Word – Jesus Christ.

I think that Peter Hitchens’ quote below speaks volumes regarding the ongoing battle between good and evil that continues to rage here in America.

Peter is a widely know English journalist and author. He has published six books, including The Abolition of Britain, The Rage Against God and The War We Never Fought. He also writes for Britain’s The Mail on Sunday newspaper and is a former foreign correspondent in Moscow and Washington. In his book The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith he tells us of his conversion from militant atheist to Christian theism.

“I thought this gesture [burning his Bible] was a way of showing that I had finally rejected all the things that I had been brought up to believe, and I went on to behave for the next 20 years of my life exactly as if I didn’t believe in him [God], and that’s how I discovered in the end that what I had rejected was right.”

“The current intellectual assault on God in Europe and North America is in fact a specific attack on Christianity – the faith that stubbornly persists in the morality, laws, and government of the major Western countries. . . .The God they fight is the Christian God, because he is their own God. . . .God is the leftists’ chief rival. Christian belief, by subjecting all men to divine authority and by asserting in the words ‘My kingdom is not of this world’ that the ideal society does not exist in this life, is the most coherent and potent obstacle to secular utopianism. . . . the Bible angers and frustrates those who believe that the pursuit of a perfect society justifies the quest for absolute power.”

“…when it comes to the millions of small and tedious good deeds that are needed for a society to function with charity, honesty, and kindness, a shortage of believing Christians will lead to that society’s decay.”

-Peter Hitchens (‘The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith.’)

It is nice to know that these 44 atheists have now seen the light of Christ and have escaped from the secular humanistic prison that once held them in a tight grip of despair. I pray that many more will seek Jesus Christ and escape satan’s stronghold of sin and evil which wreaks havoc upon their lives.

God’s truth is eternal and Christian convictions must be commitments of permanence. Political alliances and arrangements are, by definition, temporary and conditional. This is no time for America’s Christians to confuse the City of man with the City of God. At the same time, we can never be counted faithful in the City of God if we neglect our duty in the City of man. That’s a good principle to remember as America gears up for a crucial political debate. – Albert Mohler

Before I get deep into today’s topic, I wanted to first publicly thank and acknowledge my dear blogging friend Steve over at Cry and Howl for placing Talk Wisdom on The 2015 Cry and Howl Top 20 Conservative Blog Award list! It was so kind of Steve to recognize this “little fish in the big pond” of blogs out there!

I highly recommend checking out the other blogs on that list! Really great content can be found at those links and I also want to send congratulations to all the other bloggers on the Cry and Howl award list!

Of course, Steve’s blog is always spot on and influential in the crucial political debates between the truth of conservative thought and the lies of “the new totalitarians” that he often battles against in this highly charged political arena that exists today!

When you go to his site, you will notice that next to my blog name he wrote, “not wholly political.” I also appreciate him for writing that! This brings me to the topic that I wanted to cover today.

Yes, Talk Wisdom often discusses various political, cultural, and moral issues from the Christian conservative perspective. But this blog also exists for the additional purpose of sharing God’s truth in the Bible and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

When I originally decided what the main goal of this blog would be, I wrote:

Talk Wisdom’s goal is to defend the tenets and values of Biblical Christian faith. We defend our Constitutional Republic and Charters of Freedom, especially when speaking out against destructive social and political issues. As followers of our Savior and Lord, we should boldly stand up for Jesus Christ in our present circumstances. He is our Savior, Lord, and King, and His love needs to be shed abroad in our hearts and in our world – now.

For anyone interested, let me share a bit of history about this blog (including the one I previously had at Blogger) and how I came to the decision to write the content that I write here at Talk Wisdom.

Back in October of 2005, Biola University held its first “God blog Conference.” It was three days that were jam-packed with information, instruction, discussion, and Christian oriented blog content awareness and suggestions.

The important question of whether or not Bible based Christians should be involved or engaged in politics; or just be salt and light in this dark world came up and was debated extensively. Many God bloggers were steadfast in their choices. Some just knew that they were “meant to share the Gospel and biblical principles alone” without getting into tiresome political debates. Others were convinced that it was their calling to draw attention to the political battles that are currently raging in our culture. It is certainly an interesting and valid question. Several prominent Christian leaders (and blog panelists) had different opinions on it and backed their views up with Bible verses.

During one class question and answer session, I recall stating that I wanted my blog to be one that discusses both Christian apologetics as well as how politics, culture, and moral issues can influence us; either positively or negatively. The professor said something like, “that would be an impossible endeavor!” Apparently, he was of the opinion that it was too much to do within one blog. Admittedly, it can be a difficult task to juggle all of those goals in one blog. However, with all due respect to that professor, I came away from the conference with the steadfast decision that I was still willing to try! Here is what I wrote back in 2009, five years after attending that first God blog Conference:

In 2004, I attended my first blog conference at Biola University. One of the speakers asked members of his class what each of our goals will be in writing Christian-based blog material. I stated that I wanted to write discernment articles that include the gospel of Christ while exposing how politics, culture, education, the media, and apostate churches battle against the Word of God and the message of the gospel. I recall that the professor told me, “that would be an impossible endeavor.”

Yet, here I am, five years later including all of the above with the discussions here at Talk Wisdom. I don’t quite know why the professor thought that way. Perhaps he thought that I should limit myself to apologetics and not include any criticism of the world around us. Or, maybe he worried that any “politically incorrect” approach might turn individuals away from the Gospel message. (Been there, heard that – MANY TIMES – even by some fellow Christian believers.) Perhaps I should have asked him why he thought such an endeavor was “impossible.” I didn’t get the chance to ask him. The session ended abruptly because we were out of time and he was surrounded by bloggers asking many questions.

The following is one of the great quotes of C. H. Spurgeon:

The Church of Christ is continually represented under the figure of an army; yet its Captain is the Prince of Peace; its object is the establishment of peace, and its soldiers are men of a peaceful disposition. The spirit of war is at the extremely opposite point to the spirit of the gospel.

Yet nevertheless, the church on earth has, and until the second advent must be, the church militant, the church armed, the church warring, the church conquering. And how is this?

It is the very order of things that so it must be. Truth could not be truth in this world if it were not a warring thing, and we should at once suspect that it were not true if error were friends with it. The spotless purity of truth must always be at war with the blackness of heresy and lies.

In my opinion, Spurgeon’s quote is ever the more relevant in today’s culture – even more so than it was back in 2004!

As the graphic above implies – sometimes the truth hurts! However, secular society’s love affair for diversity (even at the expense of causing harm) and tolerance (today’s code word for never offending anyone – except Christians and conservatives!) doesn’t WANT to know any kind of truth that may initially hurt someone (emotionally speaking).

The trouble with the “new tolerance” mantra is that common sense is often sidetracked or even eliminated altogether. Let’s see a non-political example. Common sense tells us to grab the arm of a child and pull it hard to prevent that child from running in the street in front of a speeding bus! The truth of the need for rescue may hurt the child physically at that moment in time, but the lie of freedom to do what would harm him if he ran in front of the bus can end up killing the child!

Such an illustration is even important when considering spiritual truth. These days, telling someone who adheres to a false religion is detrimental for them and is not the truth given by God in the Bible may hurt a person’s feelings (at first); but the end result of them finding Jesus Christ and becoming a child of God through the biblical Gospel message brings eternal life that they would not have had without Him!

Spurgeon’s ending line is quite the keeper! It sums it all up in one brilliant sentence!

The spotless purity of truth must always be at war with the blackness of heresy and lies.

*******

Yes. The body of Christ contains many different members with different gifts. One person may be better at teaching children. Another, better at writing poetry or songs that honor the Lord. We all have certain gifts that maybe others don’t have. Some, genuinely may believe that they shouldn’t be involved in volatile political debates.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Bible based Christians MUST BE ENGAGED IN THIS BATTLE FOR MORAL PURPOSES.

Whether their contribution in such an effort means actually working in the political field or just assisting (and/or financial support) in the efforts of certain organizations (e.g. Concerned Women for America; Alliance Defending Freedom – just to name two) that promote Christian morals, values and ethics; it has always been my opinion that we must not let the secular humanistic crowd overtake what we hold dear as American Christians who love God, Jesus Christ, and His Word, the Bible.

I read the following article back then and thought that it spoke directly to my thoughts, concerns, and beliefs of why I think that Bible based Christians must become motivated and involved in combating the moral decay that is currently raging in our culture.

Albert Mohler shares many good talking points throughout the piece. The point that is especially important and desperately needed today is that Christians who are gifted in this particular area need to be willing to not only read and pay attention to the details, but also need to be willing to act upon them. Mohler sums it up quite well at the end of his article:

We are concerned for the culture not because we believe that the culture is ultimate, but because we know that our neighbors must hear the gospel, even as we hope and strive for their good, peace, security, and well-being.

This is no time for silence, and no time for shirking our responsibilities as Christian citizens. Ominous signs of moral collapse and cultural decay now appear on our contemporary horizon. A society ready to put the institution of marriage up for demolition and transformation is a society losing its most basic moral sense. A culture ready to treat human embryos as material for medical experimentation is a society turning its back on human dignity and the sacredness of human life.

Trouble in the City of Man is a call to action for citizens of the City of God, and that call to action must involve political involvement as well. Christians may well be the last citizens who know the difference between the eternal and the temporal, the ultimate and the urgent. God’s truth is eternal and Christian convictions must be commitments of permanence. Political alliances and arrangements are, by definition, temporary and conditional. This is no time for America’s Christians to confuse the City of Man with the City of God. At the same time, we can never be counted faithful in the City of God if we neglect our duty in the City of Man. That’s a good principle to remember as America gears up for a crucial political debate. * (bold mine)

No matter what you think your particular calling in this life is, as a born-again, Bible believing Christian it is also your duty to at least do something to help turn the tide of moral decay. This needs to be a top priority not only for ourselves and the ‘here and now,’ but even more importantly, for the sakes of our children and grandchildren and their future lives on this earth.

~ Christine

* Quote from Mohler article:

Engaging the City of Man: Christian Faith and Politics

by Albert Mohler
June 15, 2006

With thanks again to my kind friend Steve at Cry and Howl for including Talk Wisdom in the Cry and Howl Conservative Blog Awards for 2015!

The Bible

Click on image for Blue Letter Bible

Proverbs 2:2-5

"Make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding; for if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the LORD, and discover the knowledge of God"

About Christinewjc and this Talk Wisdom blog.

Married for 31 years to my wonderful husband! Two grown adult children and a son-in-law in whom we treasure and enjoy life.

Our family is very close and love to spend time with each other. We share a deep Christian faith, love for the Lord Jesus Christ and love for each other.

I earned a BA in education from Kean University in 1978. I have been studying the Bible for over 22 years and in 2003, upon successful completion of the course of study offered in the MA Lecture Series, earned a Christian Apologetics Certificate from Biola University.

This blog is named "Talk Wisdom" because one of the main purposes of writing here is to share the wisdom of God - the only absolute and true wisdom - that is contained within the Scriptures of the Bible. As a born-again Christian, it is my desire to heed and share Paul's encouragement and warnings in 2 Timothy 3:1-17

2 Timothy 3:16 - All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
2 Timothy 3:17 - that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Talk Wisdom's goal is to defend the tenets and values of Biblical Christian faith. We defend our Constitutional Republic and Charters of Freedom, especially when speaking out against destructive social and political issues. As followers of our Savior and Lord, we should boldly stand up for Jesus Christ in our present circumstances. He is our Savior, Lord, and King, and His love needs to be shed abroad in our hearts and in our world – now.

A quote to remember!

“We are to be obedient to God and that means we are to fight against sin. Talking about not judging and loving each other does not absolve us from our duty to correct and — if necessary — censure those who refuse to obey God’s laws. If this were the case, then God would have had no reason to even give us a law: He would have just said do not judge, just love and left it at that — but He did not do this. Instead, He told us to obey, and then gave us at least ten commands. If we love each other — Biblical love — then we will do everything we can to help each other keep those commands, not make it easier to break them. After all, how can we claim to love someone if we are in the process of making their path to hell easier to travel?”
~ Black3Actual from Oil For Your Lamp blog

Talk Wisdom's goal is to defend the tenets and values of Biblical Christian faith. We defend our Constitutional Republic and Charters of Freedom, especially when speaking out against destructive social and political issues. As followers of our Savior and Lord, we should boldly stand up for Jesus Christ in our present circumstances. He is our Savior, Lord, and King, and His love needs to be shed abroad in our hearts and in our world - now.

Faith in Jesus Christ is our response to God's elective purpose in our life. These two truths--God's initiative and man's response--co-exist throughout the Bible. The gospel is "the message of truth" because truth is its predominant characteristic. Salvation was conceived by the God of truth (Ps. 31:5); purchased by the Son, who is the truth (John 14:6); and is applied by the Spirit of truth (John 16:13). To know it is to know the truth that sets men free (John 8:32). Believers are people of the truth (John 18:37), who worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), and who obey the Word of truth (John 17:17). People have rejected, neglected, redefined, and opposed God’s truth for centuries. Some cynically deny that truth even exists or that it can be known by men (John 18:38). Others foolishly think that denying truth will somehow make it go away. Truth determines the validity of one's belief. Believing a lie doesn't make it true. Conversely, failing to believe the truth doesn't make it a lie. The gospel is true because Jesus is true, not simply because Christians believe in Him. His resurrection proved the truth of His claims and constitutes the objective basis of our faith (Rom. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:3). Truth is our protection and strength (Eph. 6:14). Throughout history, people have tried everything imaginable to gain favor with God. Most turn to religion, but religion apart from Christ is merely a satanic counterfeit of the truth. At the heart of every false religion is the notion that man can come to God by any means he chooses--by meditating, doing good deeds, and so on. But Scripture says, "There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). That name is Jesus Christ, and we come to Him by confessing and repenting of our sin, trusting in His atoning death on the cross, and affirming His bodily resurrection from the grave (cf. Rom. 10:9-10). There is no other way to God. False religious leaders and teachers talk much about God’s love, but not His wrath and holiness; much about how deprived of good things people are, but not about their depravity; much about God’s universal fatherhood toward everyone, but not much about his unique fatherhood toward all who believe in His Son; much about what God wants to give to us, but nothing about the necessity of obedience to Him; much about health and happiness, but nothing about holiness and sacrifice. Their message is full of gaps, the greatest of which leaves out a biblical worldview of the saving gospel and replaces it with the worldview of postmodernism with its dominant ethical system of relativism. The Bible describes mankind in the end times: “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7). Spiritual answers cannot be deduced by human reason alone (1 Cor. 2:14). It’s not that spiritual truth is irrational or illogical, but that human wisdom is defective, because it’s tainted by man’s sinfulness, and unable to perceive the things of God. That is why the Bible is so important. It gives us the answers we can’t find on our own. It is God’s Word to mankind. Scripture is divinely revealed truth that fills the vacuum of spiritual ignorance in all of us. Post-truth is the word of the year for 2016 and also the philosophy of the day, According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. In a “post-truth” world, people make choices based on emotion and experience rather than objective fact. So in a post-truth world, truth is irrelevant. What exactly is a post-truth culture? It’s a culture where truth is no longer an objective reality. It has become subjective. It’s what’s true for me—my beliefs, my opinions, determine my truth. So in our post-truth culture, man determines truth. Man makes himself the ultimate authority. This starting point, which rejects God’s Word and the idea of moral absolutes, makes truth subjective. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Christianity is grounded in objective truth. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Objective truth exists because we have God’s Word. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Thy word is truth” (John 17:17), and Paul and James describe the Bible as “the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15; James 1:18). The Psalmist says, “The entirety of your word is truth” (Psalm 119:160). Jesus Himself said, “For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37). When Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by me” (John 14:6), He wasn’t expressing His personal belief or opinion. He was speaking the truth, a fundamental reality that doesn’t change from person to person. It doesn’t matter if our culture thinks all roads lead to God. The truth of the matter is “no one comes to the Father but by [Jesus].” This blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." - George Orwell

"Our threat is from the insidious forces working from within which have already so drastically altered the character of our free institutions — those institutions we proudly called the American way of life. " -- Gen. Douglas MacArthur